Trade Could Boost South Asian Economies

Chaudhry Bashir Arain, a trader from Khairpur in Pakistan, exports over 99 percent of his dried dates to India via Dubai. Delivery takes up to 40 days. The long-winded route for Pakistani chhuaras to India via Dubai started in February 2019 after the Pulwama attack, following which India suspended trade with Pakistan, revoking its Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status and imposing a 200 percent duty.

- ZOFEEN T EBRAHIM

That year, two events halted the small trade that had been ongoing. India stopped trade across the Line of Control (LoC)—active since 2008—citing concerns over the alleged smuggling of drugs, arms, and fake currency by groups from Pakistan, while Pakistan suspended it in response to India's revocation of Article 370 and Kashmir's special status.

Arain, president of the Khajoor-Anaj Market, said goods sent via Wagah-Attari reached India in eight days, while the long sea journey damaged the produce. His frustration highlights the volatile relationship between the two neighboring South Asian nations.

Yet Nikita Singla, an expert in international trade, logistics, and inclusion, emphasizes that it is commercial ties that are the key pathway to reconciliation. And there is a trade history too. According to her, in 1948-49, approximately 56 percent of Pakistan's exports were directed to India, while 32 percent of its imports originated from there.

In 2019, after trade was suspended, Singla conducted a field survey in Amritsar and in towns along the LoC on the Indian side. "Nearly 50,000 people in Amritsar—including traders, custom house agents, gas station attendants, mechanics, dhaba owners, truck drivers, and porters—were adversely affected by the suspension of trade via the Wagah-Attari crossing. Similarly, in the districts of Uri and Poonch along the LoC, nearly 25,000 people depended on this trade for their livelihoods," she said, adding that cross-LoC trade was particularly unique as it was more of a "confidence-building measure" with trade based on a barter system.